This invention relates to a method and apparatus for tracking aircraft and securing against unauthorized access.
Increasing demands upon the systems, methods and infrastructure of commercial aviation have prompted advances in technology pertaining to aircraft surveillance and communication. These systems which include ADS, ADS-B and FANS have enabled reduction of aircraft separation, and improvement in Air Traffic Control management of aircraft within coverage of regional airspace.
Despite varied solutions presented by existing and emerging technologies, little effort or advancements have been made that may adequately protect against recurrence of the tragic events of Sep. 11, 2001.
Reinforcement of cockpit doors and proposed arming of airline pilots provide physical barrier and defensive deterrence against aggressive actions of those harboring malicious intent relative to airline industry. Unfortunately, these methods substantially increase cost for retrofitting aircraft, but fail to protect against access gained through forged or stolen flight crew identification. Additionally, reinforced cockpit doors may be compromised at the point ingress/egress of the flight crew into the area of the cockpit.
Existing procedural measures rely upon the pilot and co-pilot to detect any intrusion into the cockpit, and notify regional ATC through textual input of emergency squawk code(s) into the Mode-S transponder or satellite-based data-link. Encoding of codes or textual messages failed adequately alert ATC of breach of the flight deck of any of the aircraft involved in the Sep. 11, 2001 hijackings.
Objective of the present invention, was therefore, a means of identifying authorized personnel with secondary comprehensive monitoring of the controlled space, sufficient to detect and exclude non-authorized personnel from the controlled space. Detected breach of the present invention permit immediate notification of ATC and authorities through initiation of an automatic alert code by primary and secondary means of wireless communication, thus reducing risk of system compromise.
Existing surveillance systems, such as ADS and FANS enable approximations of an aircraft's position in relationship to navigational lines or transmitted course intent, but fail to correlate the location of an aircraft outside of certain navigational boundaries, nor do these systems correlate precise positional representation of an aircraft in relationship to detailed geographic display of the underlying terrain. In the event of a compromise of a transponder or operational failure, ATC personnel are hampered in determining relative location of an aircraft.
Certain objectives of the present invention include detailed graphic display of an aircraft's position in relationship to identifiable geographic detail, including but not limited to, correlation of flight path or deviations relative to cities, buildings or landmarks, controlled spaces, waterways, topographical detail or emergency response facilities. It was an additional objective to provide means of automatic ground-based vector display to the nearest primary or secondary airports, in the event an aircraft encountered difficulty.
Existing and emerging technologies permit approximations of aircraft location, relative to assigned navigational tracks for inter-continental travel. While existing means enable improved air traffic management over vast oceanic surfaces, they are less useful in the unlikely event the aircraft fails to reach its destination.
It was an essential purpose of the current invention to develop a means for an aircraft to determine an imminent controlled or uncontrolled flight into terrain, with automatic notification of the nearest Search And Rescue or response facilities, minutes prior to the aircraft's crash (Net Terminal Location). This objective included automatically generated geographic-correlated map display, in which a reverse vector line provides detail of compass heading and nautical miles to the identified latitude and longitude of the aircraft's Net Terminal Location.
Current or proposed surveillance systems rely upon satellite transmission of comprehensive positional data, including; aircraft identification, velocity (airspeed), elevation, course heading, latitude, longitude, and course intent with some systems also reporting control surface settings. There are currently over three thousand aircraft in continual operation over the United States at any given time, with projections for substantial increase in the coming years, placing an ever increasing demand upon existing satellite systems.
It is an objective of the present invention to decrease the need of aircraft to transmit lengthy positional coordinates, while retaining ability to determine the position of the aircraft on a three-dimensional basis from a shorter positional transmission. The realization of this objective may reduce cost of satellite transmission, and increase efficiency of satellites to handle increasing numbers of aircraft in the future.
Historically, aircraft safety has been enhanced by extracting and analyzing data contained in one or more on-board flight recorders. These systems, include CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorders) and DFDR (Digital Flight Data Recorders). Analysis of existing recorders is limited to retrieval after a plane has crashed, and often these recorders cannot be located, or have sustained damage that prohibit obtaining useful data or recordings.
Objectives of the present invention included ability to record audio, video and data in separate channels in multiple recorder stages, including a rapidly addressable buffer array which permits programming the length of recording time commensurate with flight duration, and a secondary non-volatile data storage medium sufficient for archive storage of higher resolution audio and video. Development goals included ability to remotely access either recording stage, transmitting data in FIFO (First In First Out), Indexed Access (identified record, or a range between two indexes) and LIFO (Last In First Out), which permits immediate download of the most current recording. This enables download of data or audio related to issuance of an alarm or condition, first.
The primary focus of the present invention is to increase safety of the aircraft, and the respective passengers onboard.
Proposed or existing technologies pertain to recording or remote access relative to mechanical conditions of the respective aircraft, or advocate continual transmission of flight recorder voice, video and data to a ground-based facility where it is recorded.
The present invention primarily records audio, video and data in separate channels onboard an aircraft or vehicle, and then transmits, upon demand or prerequisite circumstance to a ground-based facility where it is analyzed. This reduces demand upon satellite transmission, while reducing the number of personnel and data storage space needed to monitor aircraft.
Additionally, proposed systems have an inherent problem if they advocate continual transmission of audio and data in real-time, or near real-time. If there is a break in satellite or RF communication continuity, then data may either be lost, or contain blank areas corresponding to the period of communication lapse.
The present invention uses compression algorithms, and burst or packet communication with parity to assure that all elements that are transmitted, are properly received by the ground-based receiving center. Additionally, the present invention permits download of data, as many times as desired without posing an interference to incoming or previously recorded data.